In a prior post, we explored the risks of utilizing an involuntary bankruptcy petition as a litigation tactic. That post examined a July 2015 decision from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the TPG Troy LLCbankruptcy case, in which the court held that when an involuntary bankruptcy petition is dismissed there is a presumption that costs and fees will be awarded irre
On November 30, 2015, the City of Detroit began filing complaints against vendors and service providers seeking to avoid and recover potentially “preferential payments” made by the City of Detroit during the 90 days preceding entry of the Order for Relief in its Chapter 9 bankruptcy case. The Order for Relief was entered on December 5, 2013, and the City must file its claims by December 5, 2015.
Effective January 1, 2016, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) altered the reportable event rules for defined benefit pension plans. Under new final regulations, the PBGC substantially reduced the reporting requirements for pension plan administrators, sponsors and contributing employers. In fact, the PBGC estimates that the final regulations will allow 82 percent of pension plans with more than 100 participants to utilize a reporting waiver.
A decision last month by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire serves as a good reminder that, although helpful, Bankruptcy Code Section 365(n)’s protection for intellectual property licenseesdefinitely has its limits.
On November 30, 2015, the US Federal Reserve Board approved a final rule detailing its procedures for emergency lending under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act limited the Federal Reserve Board’s emergency lending authority to programs and facilities with “broad-based eligibility” established with the approval of the US Secretary of Treasury and prohibited lending to entities that are insolvent, among other things.
As of December 1, 2015, a new bankruptcy form for filing proofs of claim has gone into effect.
The form has undergone a number of non-substantive, cosmetic changes, which should make it easier to complete. The only substantive change is the addition of a new Item 10, which asks whether the claim is based on a lease and, if so, the amount necessary to cure defaults outstanding as of the petition date. Finally, the name of the form has been changed to Form 410.
Typically, when an individual debtor files for bankruptcy, all of his or her belongings become part of the big “property of the estate” pot that the court ladles up pro rata among hungry creditors. But debtors need to eat too. Exemption law allows individual debtors and their families to keep some basic property, such as the clothes on their backs and roofs over their heads.
The Texas Supreme Court is poised to consider a significant fraudulent transfer case stemming from the Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme. The origins of Janvey v. Golf Channel date back to 2009. In the wake of Stanford’s $7 billion Ponzi scheme, the Northern District of Texas appointed a receiver for Stanford and his related entities. The receiver sued the Golf Channel (among others), claiming the nearly $6 million Stanford paid for advertising was a fraudulent transfer under the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (“TUFTA”).
Most loan contracts include provisions allowing the collection of attorneys’ fees in the event the borrower defaults. These attorney fee provisions are routinely enforced in collection suits brought in state courts.